Norse mythology and primitive belief

Charles Francis Keary

1848 – 1917

Charles Francis Keary was a Victorian scholar, numismatist, and novelist who worked at the British Museum's Department of Coins before turning to the comparative study of Scandinavian history and Indo-European mythology. His Outlines of Primitive Belief among the Indo-European Races (1882) examined the underlying religious structures common to Greek, Germanic, and Vedic tradition, establishing him as a significant Victorian interpreter of pagan religious thought and prehistoric cosmology. His work contributed to the cross-cultural mythological framework that esotericists drew upon to argue for a universal primordial wisdom underlying all ancient religion.